


From Ashes

by Oblivion_Wanderer



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Aftermath, Gen, post-fall of the City
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 13:45:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13591311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oblivion_Wanderer/pseuds/Oblivion_Wanderer
Summary: Nelan rises from the rubble, only to find everything she knew up in smoke.





	From Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> Companion fic to System Error; in summary, the events of the fall from Nelan's point of view.

“How do we come back from this?”

Nelan doesn’t know how to answer that, not when the City, the Tower, is burning and there’s some strange machine attached to the Traveler off in the distance. She turns to her Ghost, Ivo, as if he would have the answer. She knows he doesn’t, and she goes to say what words can only come to mind at the moment; she doesn’t know.

She opens her mouth to speak, to try and comfort her Ghost, who she can tell is distressed, but she never gets that far.

“You don’t.”

She and Ivo turn at the same time, in sync (Ivo had said once their neural symbiosis was far progressed since they first met), finding who had spoken to them. A Cabal- a general or commander maybe- done all up in white armor. Nelan’s hand goes to her knife on instinct.

“What do you mean?” She scowled behind her helmet. Ivo had retreated to hovering close to her head.

“Welcome to a world without Light.” The Cabal spoke, sounding smug and gesturing to behind her.

A feeling of dread washed over Nelan at those words, and she dared turn, just in time to see an orange light flash and fan out over the Traveler.

“What-”

And then white flashes across her vision and she feels like something’s been pulled from her body.

Nelan stumbled back in shock, losing her breath as if someone knocked it out of her lungs. Her legs feel weak, like she can barely stand. She looks to Ivo, but-

“Guardian... Something’s wrong...” He manages before he falls out of the air, landing like a stone on the metal.

She tries to call his name but she can’t, as her legs decide to give out at that exact same moment. She falls to her knees; doubled over and confused by what the hell just happened to her. Whatever that orange light was, it had effected both her and Ivo. Something felt wrong; something felt like it had been stolen from her, taking her energy with it.

It felt like a very important part of her was gone.

‘ _No!’_ She realized, trying to get up. _‘It can’t be! The Light-’_

She hears someone coming near, that Cabal, and she reaches out for her Ghost. Ivo is unresponsive in her grasp as she draws him near, but she has to protect him. She will not let that Cabal have her companion.

Nelan holds Ivo close to her body and manages to look up at the Cabal, now standing imposingly in front of her. She scowls at them in anger, for whatever trick they just pulled and for hurting her Ghost.

“Do not look at me, creature.” He growls, the proceeding to harshly kick her away

Pain blossoms in her abdomen at the same time she hits metal. She can hear the Cabal talking as she struggles to get up, calling her weak, a coward, that she’s forgotten what it’s like to fear death. Nelan’s not listening, not fully. She reaches out for Ivo, as he had slipped from her hand when she was kicked, and she holds her Ghost close as she shakily gets to her feet. When she finally looks back up, she notices the Cabal near again; looking down at her in what seems like a sneer. She can’t really tell, what with the mask at all.

“Allow me to reacquaint you.”

Nelan’s struck again, and when her back hits the ground, she feels something slip from her hand.

‘ _No!’_

She rolls over with panic and forces herself to get up on her knees, only to see Ivo fall away from her over the edge and into the burning city.

“Ivo!” She cries out, uselessly reaching for him as he falls out of sight. There are tears in her eyes. Her guide, her friend, her trusted companion…

“Your kind did not deserve the power you were given.” The Cabal says, gaining her attention. She weakly forces herself to face them again. He wasn’t even allowing her to mourn her friend. It hits Nelan that she is to die here- her Ghost is gone, and her Light...

And if she dies here, she’ll at least face her foe with defiance.

“I am Ghaul.” He says as she looks up at him. “And your Light… is mine.”

And then she falls as he pushes her off the edge.

 

* * *

 

She doesn’t know exactly what she’s seeing, or why she’s seeing it.

She sees a bird, or some kind of bird anyway, and she sees… the Traveler.

There’s water, and stone statues, and shapes falling.

There’s something in the stars, but she can’t tell what.

The scene changes and the bird reappears; flying across a body of water, towards what looks like a piece of the Traveler.

A shard.

 

* * *

 

All the noises around her are muffled.

She can’t open her eyes; she doesn’t bother to.

She can feel the cold earth beneath her, but makes no effort to move.

Somehow, her heart is still beating in her chest; slowly, but she can feel it. It’s the only way she can tell she’s still alive.

Her fingers twitch and she falls into black again.

 

* * *

 

It’s a blur when she tries to open her eyes.

She can’t focus; everything is dark and dull and washed out.

She doesn’t feel as numb as before, but she can barely move still. She tries to lift her head, but she can’t.

She lets her eyes close once more.

 

* * *

 

In a moment of waking lucidity, she thinks of her Ghost, thinking any moment now she’ll hear him and coax her to get up. He’d say this was no time to be lying about.

But she remembers what happened, remembered that he was gone.

“Ghost...”

She doesn’t bother to stay conscious any longer.

 

* * *

 

She’s dreaming.

She doesn’t know how, but she knows she’s dreaming.

Snow is falling, and she’s walking along a path in a familiar environment. There’s rusted cars around her, and not too far away is a giant an imposing wall stretching as far as the eye could see.

The Cosmodrome.

She continues walking, without reason as if she’s on autopilot. She passes what looks like a crashed ship, rusted and broken. She recalls something Ivo said to her in the earliest of their days together, and it makes her think of-

“Is this…?”

She goes beyond it and soon comes to a stop as she sees a familiar floating object.

“Ivo.”

It’s him; her Ghost. He’s hovering near what looks to be a skeleton, and in the next moment he lights up, so bright she nearly has to look away. When it dies down, she realizes exactly what she’s seeing. It’s just as she thought.

She’s seeing the day Ivo found her; the moment.

She sees herself; on the ground, but slowly waking. She sees herself look up at Ivo and get to her knees. This isn’t really how their first meeting went (she’d been startled enough to throw a rock at him), but how she sees herself reach a hand up to Ivo, touching his shell- That had happened.

And she’ll always remember the first words he spoke to her.

“ _Eyes up, Guardian!”_

 

* * *

 

Nelan woke with a shudder, a wave of pain going through her body a moment later, causing her to close her eyes again and remaining immobile until it passed. She tried to breathe through it, but even that hurt. She took a guess that she had at least one broken or cracked rib; it sure felt like it.

When she felt like she wasn’t going to fall apart, she opened her eyes again. Everything was dull and dark in her sight, and she could hear crackling of flames somewhere. She went to roll over on her back, but a shock of pain went up her arm. She forced herself not to cry out; biting her lip instead to the point where it bled. Was her arm broken? It felt broken.

Nelan did get over onto her back, trying not to move her injured arm that much. With her hand, attached to the other arm that was still moving, she reached up to her face and managed to pry her helmet off. She took in her first breath of air as it came off, but it turned into a cough that further agitated the ache in her chest.

The air tasted like smoke.

A thought made it into her hazy mind. _‘Am I still in the City? How?’_

Nelan remembered she fell from the airship. A fall like that- she shouldn’t be alive right now. That should have killed her. How in the world was she alive right now?

“Ghost.” She croaked out. “Where-” But she was met with only silence. That’s right; he wasn’t with her. “Right...”

She was still in the City and without her Ghost; without Ivo. Knowing he was no longer with her somehow felt worse than her current physical state. She’d lost her companion, the one friend she loved and trusted above anyone else. That kind of loss was something that ran deep.

However, the logical part of her was still aware knew that if she was still in the City, then there were likely still Cabal around.

She has to move. She has to get up and find a way out of the City. Ivo would want her to. If he were here he’d urge her to move; to get to safety and regroup with other survivors.

...If there were other survivors.

Relying on her good arm to support her, Nelan got herself up into a sitting position, finding that it looked like she had landed in a ditch. Lovely. Through the dark and hazy air, she saw the outlines of buildings, confirming she was still in the City.

‘ _How long was I out?’_ She wondered, now struggling to get to her feet. It was an effort, but she eventually managed to do so. Now that she was up on her feet, she found that one of her legs wasn’t fully cooperating with her. Great; another thing to add to the list of injuries. She could still walk forward though, even if she’s reduced to limping, so that’s exactly what she did.

She slowly made her way forward beyond where she had fallen, her bad arm hanging limply at her side and her good one wrapped around her stomach. She could still feel where she was kicked by that- what did he call himself? Ghaul? Whatever. He’d hurt her, hurt her Ghost. That Cabal might as well have killed Ivo.

She went down a slope and almost tripped when she got onto even ground and into a puddle. The Hunter had to stop and catch her breath before continuing.

Some kind of ship flew overhead, forcing her to take cover under a crashed ship. She heard the voice of Cabal as it flew over where she hid, and she waited until it was gone before leaving her hiding spot.

Nelan approached what was ether a tunnel or an overpass, thoughts of how she was going to get out of here coming into her head. She needed to find a way out of the City before any Cabal found her. Something told her they would kill her on sight if they found her still alive. What was she even going to do if she encountered Cabal while she was trying to escape? She’d inspected her sidearm while she was hiding from that ship, damaged but needing amo; she had nothing else to defend herself, even though her knife was still on her. Her armor was damaged too, scorched and now matching the worn cloak she inherited from her late friend Quinn-7.

She was without her fireteam as well. Traveler, had Lucy and Murph been able to get out of the City? Where they alright? She didn’t know.

Nelan was alone out here, on her own.

“Guardian!” She hears someone suddenly call, someone familiar.

She perks up at hearing her title called by that voice. _‘Ghost? Ivo?’_

Did she dare hope? Could it be? Could it be him? Did he somehow survive?

Limping forward, she sees a faint light; searching for something.

Searching for her.

She knew the light; the floating shape of someone she’d known for a long time.

‘ _Ivo!’_

She could cry right then and there. It is him; her Ghost is alive!

Nelan limped along as fast as she could to catch up to him, not missing the distortion in his voice and how distressed he sounded as he talked to himself, not seeing to notice that she was near yet.

Nelan was about to call for him when she tripped, her weakened leg giving out. She jostled her bad arm as well when she fell, and this time she could not help but make a sound.

That seemed to be enough though.

“Guardian?” Ivo called, the light seeming brighter, indicating he’d seen her and floated over to her. “You’re alive! I… I thought I lost you.”

Nelan looked up, fighting the pain that threatened to break her. Ivo hovered close to her face, and- Oh Traveler. His shell was scuffed and burned and the individual nodes seemed lose around him. His frame shivered and his eye was dimmer. It hurt her to see him in this state.

She wants to reach up and touch his shell, much like she had when they first met. She didn’t dare, afraid he would fall apart if she even touched him. He’d survived the fall too, but he just… He looked so broken.

Ivo suddenly lights up, the glow flowing from him to Nelan, and she can feel her injuries healing. He’s trying his best to heal her and trying to be as gentle as he can in the process, but even with this brief contact, she can sense the strain on his tiny body.

She’s able to get back on her feet as the glow fades, and she looks up at Ivo with concern.

“I can heal you, but I can’t resurrect you. Not since...” Ivo’s words trail off and his levitation wavers. A second later he’s quickly dropping and Nelan reaches out both hands to catch him.

“Ghost.” She whispers, saddened to see her companion so weak. She’d never seen him like this before.

Ivo twitches in her hands and angles his optic eye up at her. “Guardian… the Light is gone.”

“What…?”

“They’ve taken the City, the Traveler, everything.” He said, sounding devastated. While they were both connected to the Light, Nelan had always believed that her Ghost was more strongly connected to the Light than she was. He was, after all, made by the Traveler during the Collapse; all Ghosts were. Nelan was simply someone brought back from the dead and infused with the Light that she shared with her Ghost. “The Red Legion is killing powerless Guardians.”

“The Cabal.” She muttered. It hadn’t come back to her right away, but she had realized it on the airship when Ivo had fallen and she was reduced to her knees from the shock of it. Perhaps she hadn’t wanted to believe it then. She knew it was the truth though. “The Light- So it is gone. I felt it on the airship, I just didn’t...”

“We have to get out of here...” Ivo urged. Nelan nodded in understanding.

Holding Ivo close to her, Nelan started to move forward once more, but at a much better pace than before. She felt slightly bad that Ivo had spent what little energy he had left to heal her; he had clearly been more affected by the loss of the light, not to mention being hurt on top of that. Right now though, she had to focus on keeping them both alive and getting out of the City.

She wondered if there were other Guardians who had managed to get out; Lucy, Murph, the Vangaurd, every Guardian and Ghost who had called the City and the Tower home…

This kind of attack- it was horribly perfect, and they had been crippled.

Where did they go from here?

Eventually, Nelan came across what appeared to be a hole in the wall that dropped into some sort of tunnel. Maybe the Cabal had come in through here with ground force.

“I’m picking up an emergency broadcast.” Her Ghost informed her. “Rendezvous coordinance. They’re evacuating the planet.” He paused before adding, “we’re on our own...”

Nelan had long since figured that out, but they weren’t really alone in this. They did have each other.

The tunnel eventually let out into open air, and she couldn’t help but stop and stare at the sight before her.

She was looking at a shattered portion of the Wall; a giant hole blasted through it, reminding her of the Fallen Splicers who were trying to use SIVA and the giant chunk of wall that had been taken out of the Wall in Old Russia. Normally, people were not allowed to go beyond the wall, but now… There was no choice now.

Nelan looked down at Ivo, still in her hand, before looking back onto the wilderness. If she was right, Twilight Gap was beyond here, and that’s where she had to go now, and hopefully find survivors along the way.

And so the Hunter took a step beyond the Wall, and into the wilds, leaving the burning City behind.


End file.
